Engineering Design Process

10 Stages Of the
Engineering Design Process

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 Design (Definition)
• The process of originating and developing a
plan for a new object
• Requires research, thought, modeling,
interactive adjustment, and re-design
 1. Identify the Problem
• Engineers are Problem Solvers
• Understand the scope and the nature of the
problem
• Identify the correct issues and background of
the problem
 2. Define Working Criteria
and Goals
• Establish preliminary goals
• Develop working criteria to compare possible
solutions
– Specifications
– Constraints
 3. Research and Gather Data
• Stay consistent with working criteria while
researching
• Use resources to help research including:
Internet, Library, newspaper, etc.
• Keep info found through all steps of the design
process and add to it
 4. Brainstorm and Generate
Creative Ideas
• Develop as many creative ideas as possible
– No idea is a bad idea
– Document all ideas
– Combine ideas to create new ideas
– Do not evaluate
• If time permitted, hold a second session to
give people time to consider additional
options
• Goal: Long list of ideas!
 5. Analyze Potential Solutions
• Eliminate duplicate ideas
• Clarify ideas
• Select ideas to analyze in more detail
– Qualitative analysis
– Quantitative analysis
– Democratic analysis
 6. Develop and Test Models
• Develop models for the selected solutions
• Types of models: descriptive, functional,
mathematical, computer, and scale.
• Test each model against working criteria and
goals
• Test for functionality and performance
 7. Make the Decision
• Evaluate the results of testing to determine
the solution to use
• If none of the solutions are ideal, return to
stage 4 or 5
• Once a solution is selected, continue to stage
8
 8. Communicate and Specify
• Document the design’s specifications and
measurements and communicate to all groups
• Communication between groups is especially
important in this stage
– Meetings
– Presentations
– Reports
– Drawings
 9. Implement & Commercialize
• Final design revisions
• All groups should agree on the proposed
project, including: Management, Technical,
Business, and legal support representatives
• Production
 10. Post-Implementation
Review and Assessment
• Review the product’s performance
• Assess the product’s strength and weaknesses
and document
• Make suggestions for future improvements